A year ago at this time, Tavarez was poised to join a select group of Red Sox pitchers like Ramiro Mendoza, B.K. Kim, Rolando Arrojo and — yikes — even Bob Stanley as guys Boston fans would most like to have seen on the Shackleton Expedition to the Antarctic.

These days, Tavarez is one of the most important members of a Red Sox starting rotation that has been the best in the American League, and has been the biggest reason first-place Boston has the most comfortable lead in the major leagues.

Last night, Tavarez threw seven shutout innings as the Sox beat Atlanta, 11-0. He retired the first 10 Braves batters, and thanks to two double plays, faced the minimum 18 batters through six innings.

Tavarez, finally above .500 at 5-4, left after seven innings, having thrown 97 pitches and gone 0 for 3 at the plate. His lack of offense was unimportant, though, as he got plenty of it from his teammates.

Boston batters drilled five home runs off Braves pitching, one each by five different hitters. They were J.D Drew, Coco Crisp, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Eric Hinske — that’s right, Eric Hinske. It marked the first time five Red Sox hitters homered in the same game since June 18, 2004, and matched this year’s single-game high.

The Sox also played flawless, often excellent, defense, especially shortstop Julio Lugo.

“It’s been like that the whole year,” Tavarez said. “I can’t ask for anything else. My teammates do everything for me.”

Since their only four-game losing streak of the season, the one that ended with Curt Schilling’s one-hitter in Oakland, the Red Sox are 9-4. With the Yankees losing again last night, Boston’s lead is back up to 10 games in the AL East.

The Sox also shut out the Braves on Tuesday night. The consecutive shutouts are the first by Boston pitching since last July 18-19, when it blanked the Royals twice in a row, 1-0. The 11-0 blanking was Boston’s most lopsided since they beat the Athletics by the same score on July 6, 2004.

Boston divided its 15 hits equally, getting 5 singles, 5 doubles and 5 homers. The Sox last had 10 extra-base hits in a game in July 15, 2005, in a 17-1 victory over the Yankees. They had eight doubles and two homers that day.

Tavarez is 4-0 with a 3.07 ERA in his last seven starts. That goes back to May 17. His earned run average has dropped after each of those games, beginning with 6.60. It is 4.50 after last night’s gem.

“He didn’t get ahead in the count all the time,” manager Terry Francona said, “but he came back on 1-1 counts and made some good pitches.”

Drew’s shot was his first leadoff homer as a Red Sox, and the second for Boston this season. Lugo did it earlier. Four of Drew’s six home runs have come in National League parks — two here and two in Arizona.

Crisp’s home run was his third in three games here. He had hit one in 63 games before this series. It was also his first home run for Boston with somebody on base. The previous 11 had all been solo shots.

Ortiz also homered here on Tuesday night. He has hit home runs in back-to-back games for the first since April 14 and April 16 against the Angels at Fenway Park. He and Ramirez homered in the same game for the first time since May 9 and for the 47th time as Sox teammates, including the postseason. Boston is 41-6 in those games.

Ortiz has six career hits at Turner Field, five of them home runs.

“I still don’t like the park,” he said. “I have to play first base here.”

Ramirez was 3 for 4, missing the cycle by a triple. It took all of 71 games, starting with an 0 for 4 on Opening Day, but his average is finally up to .300. He has hit .412 (35 for 85) since May 22 to get there.

The Sox scored seven runs in the first two innings off Braves starter Buddy Carlyle, and the only question after that was how far Tavarez would go with it. He went far enough, and has already gone further than anyone expected as Boston’s No. 5 starter this season.